The drum is a musical instrument that produces sound through resonance of the drum shell. Energy transferred from the drumhead into the drum shell during play creates this resonance and the drum sound. In traditional drum design, drum hoops, lugs, and lug holders couple the drumhead to the drum shell, thereby allowing for the transfer of energy from the drumhead to the drum shell.
Existing drum structures compromise or degrade the drum sound quality by hindering the drum shell resonance. Many factors contribute to this compromised or degraded sound. Some structures position or attach the lug holders directly to the drum shell, thereby impeding the drum shell resonance. Other structures avoid directly impacting the drum shell by coupling the drum hoops at top and bottom ends of the drum shell, but do so in a manner in which some of the energy passing from the drumhead to the drum shell is absorbed into the coupling framework. The framework then rattles or produces other unwanted noises that distort the sound produced from the drum shell resonance. New designs, such as the Ultimount framework set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,884,144 and 8,629,340, allow the drumhead to be coupled to the drum shell in an isolated way that shields the coupling framework from energy absorption while allowing the drum shell to freely resonate.
The drum mount is another potential source of sound degradation or distortion. Drum mounts attach the drum to a supporting bracket arm, stand, or rack. Existing drum mount structures attach the mount fittings to the drum shell. This then causes the same problems to arise. Once again, the drum shell is prevented from freely resonating. Also, rattling and other unwanted noises may be produced as some of the energy produced during play transfers from the drum shell to the drum mount.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new drum mount that allows the drum shell to resonate freely. There is further a need for such a drum mount to prevent the mount itself from adding to the drum sound. Specifically, there is a need to isolate the drum mount from the energy transferring across other drum structures during play or to at least dampen the transfer of such energy into the drum mount.